Charger girls close in on first league title, edge Falls, 56-51, in OT

It's never been done at Sussex Hamilton for the girls basketball team, but the Chargers took a major step towards their first conference title ever when they forced archrival Menomonee Falls into 26 turnovers and survived a 56-51 overtime thriller Friday night.

"This was very important," said junior guard Rachel Elliott, who had a key steal at the end of regulation and two thefts in the first minutes of the overtime session, including one she cashed in for a lay-up to give Hamilton a four-point lead that they never relinquished.

"We want to keep our spot (tied atop the Greater Metro Conference standings), because we're very excited to have this chance (at a title). It's a lot of fun to be chasing after it right now."

With the win, the Chargers (9-2 in league play and 13-3 overall) stayed tied with DSHA for the GMC lead. The Dashers (9-2, 13-4) were 66-42 winners over West Allis Central tonight.

Falls (8-3, 15-4), which had to play without starting point guard Amber Bullock for almost all of the second half due to a face injury, is seeking its first league title since 1999.

"We played very hard," said Indian coach Craig Amundson, "and playing without Amver isn't anything that we haven't done in practice before. We're a balanced team. Without Amber, we still had a chance to win. We still believed we could win all the way to the end."

That they did. The Indians fell behind, 11-2 to the Chargers in the first quarter and then spent the rest of the night fighting back. They had six chances at regaining the lead before senior guard Rachel Defnet hit two free throws with 59 seconds remaining to give Falls a 48-46 advantage, their first of the game.

After a Charger time-out, Hamilton ran its four-corners weave to perfection and got an easy back-cut lay-up from junior forward Jenny Shernell with 37 seconds remaining to tie the score.

Falls, which ran most of the second half with junior Mikayla Robertson at the point, tried to work for the last shot, but Elliott spoiled that with a key steal. The ball eventually worked its way into the hands of the Chargers' senior forward Danielle Latt, but her good-looking jumper from the free throw line at the buzzer was just off the mark.

Hamilton's high-pressure defense, which limited to Falls to just 19 points in the teams' first meeting of the season, then came up big again in the overtime. After Shernell (10 points) hit another back-cut lay-up with 3:33 left to give Hamilton the lead at 50-48, Elliott snagged a pass at the top of the key and raced all the way in for the lay-up to make it 52-48 with 2:39 remaining.

She then got another steal  on the next possession which eventually led to a Charger free throw  by Shernell  to make it 53-48 with 2:05 left.

"We never doubted ourselves in overtime," said Elliott. "We knew we just had to be strong. Be strong and play our game."

Falls, which commited turnovers on the first three possessions of the overtime, finally got two free throws from Erin Otzelberger with 1:45 left to make it 53-50.

The Chargers tried to make it interesting by missing the front end of a bonus situation, but the Indians next chance got blocked which led to another Latt free throw that made it 54-50 with 45 seconds left.

Erin Crownover of Falls  (one of four Falls' players with eight points), hit one of two free throws to cut the deficit to 54-51 with 25 seconds remaining.

And Indian hopes were raised when they notched a steal on the next possession, but they could not retain the ball as Elliott's twin, Robyn, snagged a theft of her own, which led to two clinching free throws from Shernell with 1.7 seconds left.

Hamilton coach Dan Carey was very pleased with the character of his team.

"It was just like a boxing match," he said. "We both traded punches back and forth all night. We knew it would be a much different game than the last time. We knew that they would come out with a much better offensive effort."

"But I was just so pleased with how tough we were with the ball. We knew we had to protect the ball and against them that's just so hard, because they're long and strong and just reach so many passes and shots."

Falls was led by Defnet with 13 points while Robertson, Otzelberger and Alex Poole all had eight points each.

"It's always been an uphill battle for us," said Amundson, whose team has three games left on the conference schedule, all against second-division teams. "We'll come to the next practice with a challenge in front of us and hope to meet it."

Junior forward Mackenzie Latt led Hamilton with 17 points while sophomore point guard Hannah Menzia had 15. The Chargers know they still have their own uphill battle in the league race with dates against DSHA and Brookfield Central yet, but a long-awaited goal is now clearly within reach.

'I had to check the records and we have never done it (won a league title) in school history," said Carey.  "We're a young team (Danielle Latt and Lauren Krohn being the only seniors) but a lot of the kids had varsity experience last year."

'We just did things down the stretch like down our free throws (10 of 13 in the second half) that good teams are supposed to do."

"This was an important win, because the opponent was so good. A real high-caliber team that is very difficult to deal with. I wouldn't be shocked if we had to deal with them again (in the WIAA tournament)."